'LEGO™-like' conveyors reduce package manufacturer's footprint

Committed to increasing product value while generating less waste from production processes, minimizing its impact on nature, and reducing energy usage, global consumer packaging group Rexam has successfully improved year-to-year in doing more with less, the company has announced.

At Rexam’s Union, MO, 24/7 plant, which produces 1.2 billion therma-formed high-barrier food containers per year, a zero scrap-waste system is in place. “We’ve always been able to reuse our scrap, but the DynaCon conveyors make it a lot easier,” says Mark Borzillo, plant manager. 

DynaCon modular conveyor systems, from Dynamic Conveyor Corp., give plastics manufacturers turnkey custom conveyor systems from standard modules that can be reconfigured in minutes. At the Missouri facility, modular conveyors transport chopped web scrap from a trim press, through a metal detector module, to the granulator for regrinding into usable-size pellets, where it is reintroduced to the extruders.

Borzillo says, “The modular conveyor systems are hundreds of pounds lighter than standard metal conveyors, making them easier to move around when performing product changeover and placing different equipment in the machines.

“In addition, they’re competitively priced. There are cheaper conveyors, but you get what you pay for.”

The modular conveyor systems also contribute to the reduction of emissions from transport, and the reduction of whole life-cycle carbon footprint associated with the manufacture and ultimate “end of life-cycle” breakdown of more traditional metal conveyors, says Rexam.

Borzillo says of the high-impact polycarbonate modular conveyors: “They are made from small sections, like LEGOsTM, and you just build the modular conveyor systems like you want them.  If a line changes, and I need the conveyor shortened six inches, or the slope of an incline changed, I don’t need to get rid of a conveyor and buy a new one. I just take a module out, or pop one in, and we’re good to go.” 

The sustainable model of switching out smaller modules rather than replacing an entire conveyor, coupled with the fact that the DynaCons use less energy to operate than standard conveyors, allows organizations to remain within their eco-efficient standards and retain smaller carbon footprints, while doing so at lower costs than standard conveyor technology offers, according to Dynamic Conveyor.

Borzillo says, “I would never buy another traditional-type conveyor for handling scrap. And the evidence shows. Once I bought the first one, and we liked it, I never looked back.”